Dave Pietramala last pressed his team to "finish the drill,"
during Johns Hopkins' 2005 national title run. It was the slogan
the team stood by, defining Hopkins' first championship in nearly
20 years.

Guess what? It's back. "Finish" will be the Blue Jays' 2012
rallying cry — as a nod to the 2005 team (and the 2002 team
that originated the term). It serves as a reminder for everything
they do.

That's why, even though it wasn't live game action, Hopkins'
scrimmage against Penn State last Saturday bothered the 12th-year
head coach, when he was asked Wednesday about early-season
takeaways at the Baltimore-area coaches' media day.

"I felt fine about the first half. We talked about winning the
first five minutes of the third quarter, and I thought we did that.
And then, I thought we relaxed," Pietramala said. "One of the
things we've continued to talk about is finishing the drill.
Finishing practice, finishing games, finishing a lift. Finishing
everything. We didn't finish the scrimmage. And that was
disappointing, considering how much we had talked about it. So when
we extended our lead to 6-3, we didn't continue to do the things
necessary. Give credit to Penn State. They did."

Coming off a 13-3 season that ended in an NCAA quarterfinal loss
against Denver — what Pietramala called at the time "a bad
ending to a great year" — Hopkins has unfinished business
they hope to address. Underlying the message about "finishing,"
Pietramala has implemented another theme for this season: "Do your
job."

"It's really simple, but we say it every day. Do your job," he
said. "You don't have to do more, and you can't do less. Just do
your job. You don't need to make any spectacular plays, or try to
do something we're not asking you to do. We're telling you, 'Here's
your job. We need you to do it.' It's in everything we do. We've
talked about it everywhere. Do your job in class. Do your job in
school. Do your job in the community. Do your job in the weight
room. Do your job on the lacrosse field. It's a pretty simple
statement, but it needs to define who we are and how we do our
business. We're not asking for more than them to just do the job
they're being asked to do."

And if everyone does their job, then...

"We'll find ourselves in a pretty good spot," said Pietramala,
finishing the sentence.

The Blue Jays play their second preseason scrimmage Saturday
against Cornell before opening up Feb. 17 against Towson, giving
Pietramala a week-and-a-half to prepare for when it counts —
and make sure his team finishes the drill.

Until then, Pietramala discussed several other topics related to
the preseason at Wednesday's media event. Here are some of the
highlights:

Faceoff Focus

Faceoff specialist Matt Dolente played a crucial role in
Hopkins' success last year, winning 66.7 percent (194 of 291) of
draws to help the Blue Jays control possession. He won about 46
percent of his attempts in 2010, and his year-over-year improvement
was a significant factor in the team's growth last year. With
Dolente graduated, Hopkins is still looking to solidify the
situation at faceoff. Senior Marshall Burkhart and juniors Mike
Poppleton and John Ranagan are competing to be the main guy, but
Pietramala said he wouldn't shy away from a by-committee approach,
if necessary.

"It's really tough to evaluate where you are at the faceoff X in
practice because that is such a technique-driven thing. You really
can't," Pietramala said. "When you think you're really good there
it's, well, 'Maybe the other guys aren't so good.' When you face
someone else, there's no hiding. That was really one of the best
things, was to have an opportunity to have three of our faceoff
guys go against someone else.

"I felt like we didn't do as well at the draw as we would have
liked, but we got improved wing play. In the end, the best part we
took away from the scrimmage was a film. We have a working tool
against someone else to say here's what we're doing well, here's
what we're not doing well."

Defensive Midfield Mix

Pietramala didn't use the words "weakness" or "concern" when
discussing his defensive midfield. Instead, he opted for
"unproven."

"Just like the faceoff X, we're really going to need some guys
to step up," Pietramala said. "That's an unproven area for us."

"We feel like we found our pole with Jack, and no one has seen
him there yet."

Since fall ball, Pietramala has stressed the importance of
finding an identity at the defensive midfield, where Hopkins
graduated three players and lost another due to injury. Long-stick
midfielders Ben Smith and Orry Michael, and short-stick Tim
Donovan, were lost to graduation. Phil Castronova suffered a
season-ending knee injury while playing in a charity flag football
game in November.

Some of the question marks have found answers. Sophomore Jack
Reilly, who played close defense last year, is going to see
significant time at the pole.

"We feel like we found our pole with Jack, and no one has seen
him there yet," Pietramala said. "But we have other guys that can
fill the role, so we're comfortable with where we are. We've got
Mike Pellegrino, a freshman who comes with a pretty nice pedigree.
He is our kind of guy. He's a pitbull. He's a worker. He's a guy
that when he makes a mistake is so disappointed that he let the
team down, but he's going to do his best not to do it again."

Senior captain Burkhart should fill Donovan's role at one
short-stick middie spot. "And with the loss of Phil Castronova,
we're looking for someone else to answer the bell. We've got a
group of guys in the mix: Nikhon Schuler has a short-stick now,
Matt Leighty's got a short-stick, and James Malm is a guy that
didn't play much last year, but we feel athletically fits the
part."

Second-line offensive middie Eric Ruhl also will miss the 2012
season for an undisclosed reason. Ruhl is not listed on Hopkins'
roster and has not transferred.

"We had a young man, Eric Ruhl, take a personal leave of absence
from school for this semester. Nothing academic. He was not asked
to leave, it's just a personal situation. We were very supportive
of him in his decision. He has every intention of returning to
campus in the fall," Pietramala said. "But now you need someone
else to step up, like Eric did a year ago for one of our graduates.
Now someone else needs to step up for him."

Goalie Growth

With Reilly making the move to pole — he played at the top
of the box against former Virginia midfielder Shamel Bratton in
last year's meeting — senior Gavin Crisafulli and freshman
Rob Enright are competing for the third close spot next to
returning starters Tucker Durkin and Chris Lightner, both
juniors.

A fellow member of the junior class is back in the cage for the
Blue Jays. Pietramala said he's looking for Pierce Bassett, who
allowed 7.07 goals against and posted a .570 save percentage, to
command — not demand — Hopkins' system-oriented
unit.

"The nicest part there is you have a proven commodity,"
Pietramala said.

Bassett's development, along with having a full year of
experience under his belt, should allow the defense to be more
multiple, getting in and out of sets more effectively.

"Pierce had a great fall and a really good winter, and he has
had a good preseason. I don't think he had one of his better days
against Penn State, but you give Penn State credit. They took some
good shots and put them in good places," Pietramala said. "But the
nice thing is, you know what you're getting from Pierce. The
scrimmage is over and he's the last guy to leave the locker room.
He's the first guy up in my office on Monday morning wanting to
watch film, and he was back Monday afternoon saying, 'Let's get
back on the racquetball court and work on some things.'

"I don't think he's guy that ever rests on his laurels. He's
always trying to find a way to improve and help our team. What I
really respect about him is that I think he's a standards-setter
for our team. We need that."

Senior Strength

Much has been made of Hopkins' junior class and its quest to
"restore order at Homewood Field," and Lacrosse Magazine certainly
did its part to profess the group's greatness by featuring them in
the February issue. Pietramala doesn't disagree with that notion,
but he made a point of drawing attention to his seniors.

"When you look at quality teams, when you look at championship
teams, the thing that's usually a common denominator is quality
senior leadership," Pietramala said. "Quite honestly, while the
junior class is very impactful on game day, a class that's going to
play a critical role in our success is the senior class. We've got
a couple seniors that play — Chris Boland, Mark Goodrich,
Marshall Burkhart — and then there are a number of guys that
don't have as great a role on game day as maybe they would like,
but their impact is felt throughout the week of practice. We've
really tried to focus on how important those guys are to this team
in setting the standard, to setting the example, and to continue to
stay the course. Even though they may not feel like their role is
as dramatic as the other guys, their role is equally as important
to this team."

Atypical Attack

Losing a player who scored nearly 100 goals over the last three
seasons would change the dynamic of any team, but Kyle Wharton's
graduation could substantially impact the way Hopkins runs its
offense. Wharton had an impressive left-handed cannon for a shot
and was one of the toughest players to defend in the country.

"We're going to be different. When you lose a guy like Kyle, you
lose a guy who stretches the defense. So we'll change things up,"
Pietramala said. "But for our attack, this is as skilled a group as
we've had. We're going to ask a little bit more of them, to take
some of the burden off the midfielders. Asking them more in terms
of initiating, carrying the ball. A lot of that has been generated
through the midfield, and we're going to try to do that, as well as
generate some more offense through the attack."

Boland, a fifth-year senior who tied Wharton for the team lead
in goals with 34, and Palmer, who totaled 47 points on 22 goals and
25 assists, will pace the attack. Freshman Wells Stanwick and
sophomore Brandon Benn are expected to split time at the third
spot.

"Both have ability, but they're very different," Pietramala
said. "We've really been pleased with their growth and development.
Benn actually can extend the defense, so we're hoping he can give
us a little bit of what we lost there. But both possess a
tremendous skill set."